21 High Street, the Haskell – Lord house (c 1750)

The house at 21 High Street is said to be on the site of the home built by early settler Robert Lord who arrived in late 1634.

Robert Lord was born in Sudbury, England in 1603 and was one of the earliest settlers of Ipswich, arriving in late 1634 or early 1635 with his wife Mary Waite. He took the Freeman’s oath in Boston March 3, 1635/6. They had four children with them when they arrived and had five more in Ipswich. Robert Lord served as town clerk from 1636 until his death in 1683. He was also Marshal or Sheriff, succeeded by his son Robert on March 27 1660. (source).

This fine house was built circa 1750 by Mark Haskell, an Ipswich cabinet-maker. Haskell served as a Light House Volunteer during the Revolutionary War. Daniel Lord married Eunice, the daughter of Mark Haskell, and Haskell conveyed to him the house and an acre of land in 1767, which is the first registered deed (124:224). When Daniel Lord died in 1780, his will bequeathed the southeast half to his widow Eunice, and the northwest half to his nephew Joseph, son of his brother Nathaniel. (source: page 382, Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.)

The Haskell-Lord house in the late 20th Century

This Georgian house was greatly changed about 1800 and much of the added Federal detail remains. The house was recently restored. View Macris